“Even the day I was born, I was supposed to die.” That’s how Koofi explains her first 24 hours, when after a 30-hour labor in a countryside shack, and falling semi-conscious, Koofi’s mother was told what was to her at the time disappointing news– she had given birth to a daughter, not a son. The woman turned away from her newborn and refused to hold her child.

“No one cared if the new girl lived, so while they focused on saving my mother, I was wrapped in cloth and placed in the baking sun,” Koofi wrote. After nearly a day left alone, screaming, and her parents believing that “nature would take its course” and she would die, someone went outside and brought the baby indoors.

Her mother’s instincts to love her kicked in. From then and throughout her early life, Koofi and her mother forged a bond built from surviving circumstances that would probably break most people. “My mother always [regarded me] as a special person in her life,” Koofi said. “She would always tell me one day you will become something.”

4GGL believes in girls. We believe GIRLS are entitled to rights and to live with dignity. Developing and empowering them into changemakers – future women leaders – is the solution to today’s pressing issues.